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Chicago developer hits design button to bolster condo sales. The contemporary condos are in not-yet-arrived Edgewater. Units range from 1200 to 1538 square feet priced at $350K to $452K.

Yes, this is a design blog but we have a national election coming up in a few days featuring an economy button. Let’s continue.

Recently, Donald Trump was in town to top off his 92-story Trump Tower. Here is an excerpt from the Chicago Tribune:

…Throughout the nine-county Chicago area, sales of existing homes plunged 30 percent in August from the same month a year ago. And home prices—a critical component of any housing sector recovery—continued to fall in August, down 5.7 percent from a year ago.

“There are no buyers and that’s the problem,” said Liz Sidorowicz, an agent at Re/Max Signature in Chicago. “Buyers are scared or they just can’t get the financing. [The bailout] does not change one thing. The banks may be a little better off, but on Main Street, how is that going to help my guy with a condo appraised at $240,000 that he cannot even sell for $200,000?”

Typically, the highest end of the market is the last affected in a slowdown and the first to recover, but recovery appears far off. In the second quarter, there were more than 5,800 condominium units for sale within Chicago priced at $800,000 or more, enough to satisfy demand for 70 months, according to research firm, Metrostudy.

Developers find themselves in the untenable situation of trying to woo enough buyers to get their projects financed, and then trying to find a lender willing to take a chance. The projects’ futures rest in the hands of consumers and lenders, and both are strapped right now.

Design button or wallet button? What’s it like out there in your city?

Speaking of design: the Smart car.

via smart car and chicago tribune

BTW: if an incentive is necessary we applaud this developer for thinking out of the box.